Description

Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930, 1933: Compiled by Harry Craddock and illustrated by Gilbert Rumbold. Published by Constable & Co Ltd, London, 1933. Hardcover. Third printing of the second edition, new and enlarged. Pages 282-286 list “New and Additional Cocktails.” 287 pages. Cloth for spine cover, hard cover. Lettered in black, decorative end papers. No dust jacket. Binding is sound, very tight. The illustrations are still vivid. I have a feeling that you could decode the 1920s by closely decoding them.

The book is presented in two parts: Part I is “Cocktails.” Part II, “Wines,” has five-page introduction by “Colette,” the French novelist. First published in 1930, three years before this new and enlarged edition. A compendium featuring some 750 of Craddock’s popular classics, including the famous Corpse Reviver #2, which he invented, and the Dry Martini, which he popularized. An American, Craddock relocated London’s Savoy Hotel after Prohibition. His bar book was one of the first to not only list drink recipes but also to provide a wine guide. Cocktails include sours, toddies, flips, eggnog, Tom Collins, slings, shrubs, highballs, fizzes, coolers, Ricky’s, daisies, juleps, smashes, cobblers, frappes, punches, and cups.

This copy is in excellent vintage condition. The cover is intact. The binding is sound. All of the pages are clean and clear. All are completely legible. Something clear was spilled on the “M” and “N” pages, so they are slightly wrinkled. A 1930s copy of the Savoy Cocktail Book is quite difficult to find. Other copies of this edition now available on the Internet start at $1865.00.

Here’s a great article about a great book: “The Coolest Book in the World,” by Richard Davis. Authors Who Paint